Rell names tech agency chairman
By Luther Turmelle North Bureau Chief
A former Cheshire Town Council member and businessman has been selected by Gov. M. Jodi Rell as chairman of Connecticut Innovations, the state's technology investment arm.
Edward M. Bowman Jr., 48, of Southbury, replaces Elaine Pullen, who resigned from the unpaid position last week after a little more than two years on the job, without explanation.
Bowman's appointment also comes less than three months after John A. Mengacci quit as interim executive director after questions arose about whether it was legal for him to hold the position because he had been representing the state Office of Policy and Management on Connecticut Innovation's board of directors.
"I think it's a great opportunity," Bowman said Wednesday. "I'm am entrepreneur and I've testified before legislative committees. I think the governor has a great deal of faith and confidence in my ability to do this."
Bowman said the agency's recent turnover problems did not deter him from taking the job. He said his first priority is to hire a new executive director.
The appointment will take Bowman away from his latest project, getting a bio-fuel manufacturing facility off the ground in Cheshire. Bowman and partner Christopher Carr are developing the facility at Village Oil, a home-heating business that Bowman sold to Carr in 2004.
"We're sorry to lose him, but he'll do great in this job," said Carr, who also operates F&S Oil in Waterbury. "He has a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm."
Bowman, a Republican, was elected to the Cheshire Town Council in 1994 and served through March 1997.
State Senate President Donald Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, criticized the appointment, noting that Bowman has little experience in the technology industry.
"The governor claims to have an 'energy vision' of energy independence and emerging technologies for Connecticut, but here's a man whose background is in fossil fuels -- the antithesis of renewable technologies -- and who has expressed an opposition to cleaner-burning fuels as evidenced by his hostility to the 2006 sulfur content of home heating oil bill" during testimony at the Capitol.
Williams charged that Rell appointed Bowman because he contributed $2,500 to her 2006 gubernatorial campaign.
Matthew Nemerson, president and CEO of the Connecticut Technology Council, applauded Bowman's appointment. "Perhaps it makes sense to get someone who is not within the technology community," he said. "We know he has a lot of experience working with political leaders. He knows how things work in state government."
Luther Turmelle can be reached at lturmelle@nhregister.com or 789- 5706.